A is for Arson
by Avirra
Summary: A series of deliberately set trash fires in their area has the men of Station 51 scrambling to keep up, but what happens when the firebug isn't satisfied with just burning trash any more?
1. Chapter 1

**A is for Arson**

**Part I**

The smell of Mike's spaghetti sauce was lingering in the air like a welcoming friend when they came back from their latest run. Nice thing about Mike's spaghetti was that if was just as tasty, if not more so, rewarmed. Fortunately. The outbreaks of trash fires had already gone past the ridiculous. Especially since the latest in the series had caught a nearby building on fire. One that was fortunately unoccupied.

As they began to grab their plates, Captain Stanley came out of his office to grab one for himself. He filled his men in as he scooped a healthy portion onto his plate.

"Just got off the phone with the inspectors. Like we were figuring, the trash fires appear to have been deliberately set. I'm not sure what the common factor is, but they're thinking these are all the work of the same person or group of people."

Chet shook his head and brought over the garlic bread to be passed around.

"I can't understand what anyone could possibly enjoy about setting a dumpster or trashcan on fire. Or anything else on fire outside of a fireplace, for that matter."

Marco paused in-between bites.

"We'll never understand them, amigo. They don't think the way we do. Just like folks that beat up on other people and consider that to be fun."

"I guess you've got that right, Marco. What worries me is that the fires seem to not only be getting bigger, they seem to be happening closer to where people might be at too."

"The investigators have the same concerns about that you do, Chet. They think it's just a matter of time before someone gets hurt at this rate. They figure whoever it is lives in our area since the fires seem to be centering around here."

"I hope whoever it is gets caught soon. As dry as it's been lately, if one of those fires starts up in the wrong place, it could turn into a catastrophe."

They all nodded in agreement with Roy - none of them speaking because their mouths were full of spaghetti. They hadn't finished, but at least all of them had gotten a decent amount to eat before the tones went off again.

It was another trash fire, but this one was nearly right against a building and the wind had whipped the sparks up enough to spread the flames over. Not knowing whether or not anyone was inside, Cap quickly had Johnny and Roy suit up for a quick sweep while Marco and Chet manned the hose to first prevent to fire from spreading any further than it already had by soaking the surrounding area with heavy mist. Once that was completed to their satisfaction, they began fighting back the fire itself.

The area inside was one big room with a considerable amount of shelves and boxes, making searching tricky. Roy spotted a leg and found a man slumped behind a desk, but not close enough to it that he might have hit it. In fact, there was nothing immediately near him that might have accounted for the blood visible on his head. There was no time to do a more thorough examination with the smoke building up in the space - he needed to get the man out and onto oxygen. Roy signaled to Johnny that he had found someone, then quickly shifted the man to carry him out, hoping that the movement wouldn't aggravate the man's wounds.

Johnny finished the search, not spotting any other victims. Hurrying out to join his partner, he found Roy had just finished taking the man's vital signs with Captain Stanley relaying the information to Rampart over the biophone.

Chet and Marco almost had the blaze fully out now, so Cap passed the biophone handset over to Johnny and went to survey the scene closer.

After Johnny relayed the instructions over regarding the IV, he looked back over to Roy.

"How's he doing?"

"Looks like he took a hit to the head. And I don't think it was an accident."

"Don't think what was an accident, Roy? The fire?"

Both men turned their heads at the familiar voice.

"Hi, Vince. I wasn't talking about the fire - but it probably wasn't an accident either. This man took a blow to the head and it doesn't look like it was from falling against anything. There wasn't anything I could see that was close enough for him to have hit."

Vince came close enough to take a better look at the area Roy was irrigating with water.

"I'll have a word with him when he comes to. That should give us the answer as to what happened - assuming he remembers."

The sound of the ambulance arriving reached their ears. Roy quickly dressed the wound and they loaded the man up for the trip to Rampart. Johnny rode in while Roy remained behind to repack the squad. There were a few people standing around now watching the scene, but one in particular was paying very close attention to the remaining paramedic. He was keeping well back so he wouldn't be noticeable, but as the policeman made a last note in his book, Vince called out before he climbed back into his car.

"Take care, Roy. I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Right, Vince. Thanks."

Roy. Station 51. That should be enough information for him to begin with.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part II**

The spate of trash fires died down, but at the same time, the number of abandoned structures catching fire went up. After two weeks, the pattern shifted. There was still the occasional suspicious fire on the other shifts, but over 80% of the occurred during A Shift. The whole A Shift crew was understandably annoyed that the arson investigators centered their suspicions on the six of them for awhile until it became clear that there was no way that they could be setting the fires during their on duty time. Then it was the turn of the other shifts at 51 to come under the intense scrutiny.

It took another week, but all of the shifts were finally cleared of suspicion, much to Chief McConakee's relief. He knew that even innocent men got stressed being under intense observation and his men had enough stress from dealing with the constant fires.

Vince dropped by to let them know that the man they'd rescued with the head wound had recovered enough to give his statement.

"Said he heard a noise, got up to check and next thing he knew, he woke up at Rampart. Sounds like if you guys hadn't spotted him and gotten him out, our arsonist would be a murderer."

As for the arsonist himself, finding out where Station 51 was located was no more difficult than opening a phone book. It also didn't take him long to figure out which vehicles belonged to which shift. The white Rover was distinctive enough that a glance was enough to show him when he could expect the shift he was interested in. Once he started picking up on how things appeared to be done, the pattern of set fires shifted again. The majority of the fires began to start after lights out, though even the daylight hours weren't giving them any real breaks either.

Chet flopped down on the couch, rubbing a hand across his face.

"No zombie movies for me tonight. I'd think I was looking at myself in the mirror."

"Somebody mark a calendar. I'm in total agreement with Chester B for once."

Chet just gave Johnny a smirk.

"That reminds me I need a water balloon."

"What? You're admitting to being the Phantom?"

"Who me? No way, Gage. But if we get another call in the next hour, I'm going to have to hit myself with one just to wake up."

"I might have to ask you to hit me with one myself."

Chet gave Roy a grin and had a wicked gleam in his eye as the senior paramedic reached into the refrigerator for the juice.

"Don't think I'll forget you said that, DeSoto."

"Don't forget two things yourself, Kelly. One, I said 'might'. Two? I have a bottomless well of tricks to draw on that you don't want to compete with."

"Bottomless well? Gage? "

"Nope. Two kids."

Marco snickered at that as he held out his glass and Roy obligingly filled it for him. Cap was going for the coffee and remarked as well.

"Well, the maturity level is about right. No offense to your kids, Roy."

"None taken. At least mine still have a good shot at outgrowing it."

Chet groaned and put a hand over his heart.

"What is that? Pick on Chet Day?"

Mike glanced over to the calendar, lifted up the current page with one finger and just nodded. Everyone cracked up at that – even Chet.

"Trust Stoker to get the biggest laugh without even saying a word. Say, Mike -"

Whatever else Chet might have been about to say was drowned out by tones. Even Captain Stanley groaned as he moved to take down the information.

Settling into the passenger seat, Johnny took the slip and gave Roy the initial directions.

"Man, I'm glad tonight's the last night of this rotation. I need some serious sleep."

"You and me both, Junior. Say, Jo's already coming by to pick me up after the shift. Come on over with us and grab a nap. We were going to check out that junkyard for spare parts together. The junkyard's closer to my place any way."

"Alright - if you're sure Joanne won't mind."

"She'd probably be more surprised if you didn't come since she knows about our plans."

"Take the next left. The place we're after should be about three blocks further on right."

"I see it, Johnny. Looks like a bad one. Several buildings seem to be pretty tight."

As they knew Cap would, he ordered Roy and Johnny to gear up for a search while Marco and Chet were immediately taking in the hose to suppress. Once the extent could be seen, Cap was calling for extra equipment. This was more than they could handle on their own.

From his vantage point, the man frowned. Too large of a fire meant too many people. He'd need to be more careful. As he continued to watch, the paramedics re-emerged, each carrying a man. From their dress, they were likely homeless and from the smell, they were probably drunk. Both men needed treatment for light smoke inhalation, but nothing was wrong that required a trip to Rampart.

The frown on the man grew deeper as the two men left in the company of the police until they had sobered up enough to give their statements. But then a slight smile formed as he headed for where he had left his car. It would be different next time. Nodding to himself, he drove back to where he could watch as the Station crew returned.

Cleanup on site took them to slightly past the end of the shift and every man was dragging when they returned to the station. The oncoming shift proved they were sympathetic for A shift's plight and had a breakfast waiting on them when they stumbled in. They gratefully ate before heading out.

Joanne got out of the car to greet them with Kim diving out of the back seat to run to her Uncle Johnny. As always, seeing her perked Johnny up.

"Kimmy! How's my best girl?"

"Fine, Uncle Johnny. You're coming home with us, aren't you? Pleeeease?"

Joanne still had her arm wrapped around Roy as she looked over to their excited daughter,

"I'm sure Uncle Johnny can stay for a little while, but he and your father need a nice long nap first."

As the four of them climbed into the car, a smile formed on the face of the watcher from his position in a nearby parking lot as he tucked away his field glasses. So this Roy was a family man. Perfect.


	3. Chapter 3

_For those of you who are children of the eighties or beyond, you might not believe how lax the security on personal information used to be - especially in the days before personal computers and identity theft became household words. I can still recall when newspapers used to routinely include the address of the person that they were talking about in an article - even if they were the victim of a violent crime. Perhaps it was a more innocent age or perhaps folks were just more naive' as to the amount of damage that the right information in the wrong hands could cause._

* * *

><p><strong>Part III<strong>

The intended nap ended up being more of a passing out. Joanne gave up even attempting to wake them for lunch and even had a struggle that evening - though both men were embarrassed and shocked at how completely they'd been out. Tsking them both, Joanne gave them a light meal and sent them straight back to bed. Kim was trying to figure out what they'd done wrong to get sent to their rooms so early.

By the next morning, Johnny stretched and felt human again. He saw Roy was also revitalized and after Joanne fed them a solid breakfast, the two of them tackled Roy's chore list together before heading out to visit the junk yard a day late. Much as the appeal of searching through scrap metal and old parts eluded Joanne, the guys seemed to genuinely enjoy it and it took their minds off of the troubles at the Station.

As the day verged toward late afternoon, Roy and Johnny found themselves tossing a ball around with Chris while Kim was working on her jump rope technique. She and two of her friends were going to be entering a double-dutch competition and, while she couldn't work on the tricks by herself, she could work on her skip steps and her stamina.

Just before Johnny headed for home after dinner, he gave Joanne a hug.

"Thanks. You don't know how much this was like being to breathe again."

"You know you're always welcome here, Johnny."

She sent him on his way with a covered plate for later, then curled up on the couch with Roy.

"You haven't really talked about it yet, Roy. I know it's been bad, but how bad?"

"We had to pull two guys out of the last building. How could anybody even think of deliberately doing that to someone else?"

Unable to come up with a response to that, Joanne just wrapped her arms around her husband and held him close. Then she sighed and spoke softly.

"Sometimes - I want to shield you from all of the ugliness. But I know I can't."

Giving her a light squeeze, Roy kissed the top of her head.

"You do, Jo. You're my umbrella. It might still be raining out there, but you give me a break from it. And that means more than I could possibly tell you."

When A Shift came back for their next rotation, they found Vince waiting for them. After he had a quick word with Captain Stanley, the crew was called together.

"We wanted to warn you men that the arsonist appears to be getting worse. Those two men you pulled out of the building? They weren't originally in there. They were lured in by a _'really nice guy'_ who promised them each a bottle if they followed him back to a place he had that they could stay at for awhile. He'd promised they'd be _'nice and warm'_ there."

Marco shuddered a bit at that wording. Chet gave his friend a supportive nudge even though he was a bit rattled by it all himself.

"So much for the hope that the first man just surprised him. It sounds like he **wants **to hurt someone."

"Afraid so, Roy. Listen, what I really wanted to talk to you about is to ask you to look over folks that might be watching the fires. I know you're busy out there and can't be scanning the lookie-loos all the time, but even an occasional glance might be enough. If they hang around to watch their handiwork, you might not remember them at first, but you might suddenly realize you're seeing the same face or faces again and again."

Chet piped up then.

"Um, we get a lot of people that seem to turn up to watch fires. In some neighborhoods, we're the alternative to reruns."

Vince nodded.

"We know that, Chet. But if they're showing up multiple times, we'd still like to talk with them. They might have noticed something odd that just seemed weird, but not weird enough to call the police over. There have been so many fires, someone is bound to have seen something, even if they didn't know what it was that they were seeing. Enough of those stack up and we might start to narrow down our focus on the man or men that we really want."

Johnny leaned forward.

"The two guys he gave the bottles to? No luck getting anything out of them?

"Their descriptions were vague enough that we can really only rule out women, very dark toned men and kids under the age of twelve. That leaves a whole lot of folks in the suspect pool, Johnny."

Personally, Vince was worried that their arsonist seemed to have a fixation with Station 51's A Shift. In fact, his own chief had ordered a patrol car to keep the station house under watch any time that the engine and squad were absent in case the arsonist intended to set a fire at the station itself. He didn't mention that concern to the whole crew, just to Captain Stanley. The firefighters seemed to be keyed up enough without piling even more worries on top of them.

As for the arsonist, he was closer than any of them would have been comfortable with. The man wasn't particularly worried about the police car sitting at Station 51. In fact, he was quite pleased with himself. It had come as a pleasant surprise how easily he had been able to talk the nice lady at the Motor Vehicles office into giving him the address of one Roy DeSoto. All he had to do was tell her that he was with a car insurance company and that one of his clients had had a fender bender with a car that he provided her the description and the license plate number of. In turn, the woman had provided him with the address to _'send the check to'_.

Driving by the home had been amusing. Playing ball and skipping rope. Family of four, one boy, one girl. How cliche'. How average. How boring. That was going to change. He was going to change it.

He was going to make them headliners. Front page news.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part IV**

Roy and Johnny were restocking their drug box at Rampart after bringing in a heart-attack case when they saw Belliveau coming in alongside a gurney heading for a treatment room.

"Roy? That's Brice being brought in."

Nodding, Roy called their position into Captain Stanley. The engine was still working clean-up and he was fine with them being at Rampart a little longer so long as they were ready to respond if needed.

After the initial flurry of activity, Belliveau had to step out of the treatment room for x-rays to be taken. Roy and Johnny immediately went over to him.

"Bob? What happened?"

"I wish I knew, Roy. You guys were already out on a call, so our squad was called out with your engine crew on a structure fire. The smoke was thick and made it hard to see, but whoever called in the fire said they'd seen two teenage boys go inside, so we went in to find them. Craig was leading the way in on the search and - I don't know what happened. He suddenly went down hard and his head clipped a wooden crate. Fortunately his helmet took the hit instead of his skull, but his face mask was knocked off and he ate some smoke before I could get to him."

"Man. Brice wasn't showing any signs of being sick before, was he?"

"Not at all, Johnny. He wasn't complaining of even a headache. But the way he pitched forward like that? I'm worried."

His eyes went back to the door of the treatment room. Both Roy and Johnny knew exactly how it felt. There was nothing worse than being on this side of that door when your partner was on the other.

"We need to head back to the station. Go get yourself some coffee and catch your breath. Let us know what they find out, okay?"

"Sure, Roy. Thanks."

As Belliveau went to grab a cup of coffee, Roy and Johnny headed back for Station 51. Their first indication that something was wrong was when the doors didn't open for them to bring the squad in.

"That's weird. Guess we'll have to park on the street until we can figure out what's going on."

As they were climbing out, the extra patrol that had been assigned to keep a watch over the station pulled over and called out to them.

"Is there a problem, John?"

"That you, Greg? Yeah. The doors didn't open. Almost looks like the power is off in the building."

"No problem with the power on the rest of the block. Give me a minute. Let me park and I'll go with you to check it out."

"Thanks. We'd appreciate that."

As Deputy Jackson got out, he brought his flashlight with him. Together, the three men approached the building, but the deputy insisted on going in by himself first. It didn't take long to see that something was wrong and he called back to the paramedics.

"Looks like there was a break-in. From the mess, might have been some kids. Hang on for a minute. Let me see if I can get the lights back on."

Locating the circuit box, he found that the main breaker had been turned off. Once the lights came back on, he went back to the door,

"Might want to go sit in your squad and contact your captain. I need to call the sheriff. Nobody goes in for now until he clears the scene."

Captain Stanley wasn't happy and neither was Chief McConakee, but there wasn't a lot of choice but to stand down the station until the police finished looking over the building. It didn't take them too long, but it certainly felt a lot longer to the tired crew.

While they were waiting, the Cap filled in Johnny and Roy in. The two kids that Brice and Belliveau went in to search for weren't found. So either the caller had been mistaken about seeing them going into the building or the kids had left again without being seen. The third possibility was one that Cap didn't voice - that the caller might have deliberately misled them. There was no point in second guessing that. Any possibility of someone being trapped in a structure had to be checked out.

The sheriff came over and gave his report to Captain Stanley.

"I think Deputy Jackson was probably right. Probably some kids. Doesn't look like anything is missing, but someone was definately in your locker room. If any of your men find that something is gone, let us know, Darnedest thing though. There's a puddle of water on the floor. Looks like they had a water balloon in there."

The eyes of every crew member went straight to Chet, who was failing miserably at the attempt to look innocent. Seeing that, the sheriff just chuckled.

"Something tells me I don't want to know, but if I'm reading that look right, at least you got a partial payback on whoever went in there."

Not far away, the man was toweling himself off as he fumed. Everything should have been perfect. Would have been perfect, but the wrong squad went to the fire. Which meant that the wrong man hit the tripwire he'd made from fishing line.

As he calmed down, he decided that it might have been for the best. Tripping hadn't done what he'd wanted it to do any way. No, it was looking like he was going to have to take a much more personal hand in it. And the more he thought about that, the better he liked that thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**Part V**

At the beginning of the next shift, Roy got a call from Belliveau that Cap allowed him to take in the office. Since the others had all been on scene when Brice had been hurt, Roy filled them all in after he came back out.

"Brice is fine. They kept him overnight to make sure his lungs were clear. He's bruised up and sore, but nothing was broken or sprained. Bob says that Brice told him that it felt like he tripped over something, but Bob didn't see anything that was in their path."

"Huh. That's weird. Brice isn't known for being a klutz. Pretty much the exact opposite, in fact."

Chet frowned, then shrugged.

"The smoke was pretty thick. Maybe his foot hit something that rolled out of the way after it tripped him up."

"Could be."

Captain Stanley left his remark at that, but all the incidents together were starting to make him paranoid. What if Brice's falling wasn't an accident? After all, if the heart attack call hadn't come just before the other call, it would have been Johnny and Roy going into that building. The thought that somebody might be targeting his men didn't set well with him at all. He decided he'd give Vince a call, but before he even reached his door, the tones went off for a full station run and they were headed for the bay.

The sight of the structure when they arrived made them all wince. It was an older apartment building slated for demolition. These places tended to be magnets for squatters. It was a two-story unit with what looked to be four apartments per floor. The fire seemed to have originated in a small attached building to the west side of the apartment building.

Johnny and Roy didn't waste any time gearing up, heading in to begin the search as soon as their captain gave them the go-ahead. The first two apartments were clear, but there was a man down in the third one. As he approached the man, Roy thought at first that he was unconscious. As he reached down to check for a pulse though, the man suddenly grabbed hold of his turnout coat.

"My son and my nephew are upstairs. You have to find them!"

Johnny was close enough to hear what the man said and called over to Roy.

"You take care of him. I'll head on up and look for the boys."

"Right. Take the HT with you."

"Got it, Roy."

Johnny hurried as fast as he could safely go and looked up the stairs to make sure they looked sound before climbing. The stairway was an open design with railings on both sides, but everything seemed sturdy even if they likely wouldn't pass the muster for a modern building inspection. He headed up to start his search.

On the outside of the building, Chet had the lead with the hose and he wasn't liking the way that the water didn't seem to be beating back the fire as well as it should have been. He called back his suspicions to Marco, who relayed them back to Captain Stanley.

"Fire's not backing down, Cap. Chet thinks we might be dealing with flammables stored in that building. It appears to be some sort of maintenance area."

The number of flammable and potential explosive or toxic substances that could be in there was large. Paint, pant thinners, waxes, aersol cans - the list went on and on. He called back over the HT.

"Keep pouring the water on, but keep your distance."

Then he keyed the HT again to call his paramedics.

"We have a potentially bad situation in the works. Pick up the pace, guys."

"Roy's with a victim on the first floor. I'm almost down sweeping the top floor for two boys that are -"

The loud thump he heard made Captain Stanley's heart stop. What the hell just happened?

"John? John?"

Back inside the building, Johnny was sprawled on the floor with the wind knocked out of him. He'd tripped over something and looking back, he could see what. Thin, strong, nearly invisible fishing line - his boot was still hooked on it. He was grabbing for the HT to let Cap know what was going on, when he looked up and saw Roy. His partner had come up the stairs as well and was gesturing to him frantically from the head of the stairway.

Not questioning, Johnny grabbed up the HT, scrambled to his feet and started after his partner, only to find that he had twisted his foot in the fall and was slowed considerably. Roy apparently noticed that he wasn't right behind him and was waiting for him just a few stairs down. Just as Johnny reached the top of the stairs, an explosion from the outside jolted the building. Johnny fell backwards to the floor, reflexively reaching out as he saw his partner knocked off of his feet. The body tumbled down the stairs in a sickening way that Johnny knew would spell at least a broken bone or two at best.

As the tumbling form finally came to rest at the bottom of the stairs, Johnny stared down in horror at the broken ragdoll dressed in firefighting turnout gear. Even though the helmet had remained on, it couldn't have protected Roy from the way that he landed.

Grabbing the HT, he immediately keyed it.

"Cap! I need help in here. Roy's in a bad way."

Without waiting for response, Johnny hurried down the stairs as quickly as his injury allowed. The position of the body and the stillness told him a story that he didn't want to believe. Couldn't believe. Ripping off a glove, he reached around the collar of the turnout coat to touch his neck and felt desperately for a pulse. But there wasn't one to find.

Captain Stanley raced in only to find his junior paramedic staring in shock at the body in front of him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part VI**

Stunned as he was by what he'd come in on, Captain Stanley knew his first priority was to get Johnny out of the building. The explosion from the side building now had the flames spread all along the west side. He might have to make the call to just keep it from spreading to other areas and let it burn out. But first, Johnny had to be gotten out and he knew Johnny wouldn't leave Roy behind.

With a heavy heart, Cap grabbed hold of the body and hefted it into a fireman's carry to haul it out. He hoped that Johnny would follow automatically and, thankfully, he did. Marco and Chet were too busy with the hose to see what was happening, but Mike got a sick feeling in his stomach - not so much because of Cap carrying someone out, but the stricken look he saw on Johnny's face after the paramedic pulled down his mask.

As Cap shifted to allow the body to slide down to the ground, the helmet came loose and shifted. Mike was the first to notice and find his voice.

"That's not Roy!"

The now exposed hair wasn't Roy's light tones, but dark auburn locks. It took a moment for the revelation to get through Johnny's muddled thoughts, but he quickly removed the helmet and mask. He gasped as he recognized the man.

"Cap - that's the victim Roy was with downstairs. . ."

As the implications hit Johnny, he turned and started to hobble quickly back toward the building, yelling back to Captain Stanley.

"Call Vince!"

He didn't have time to explain further as he pulled his face mask back into position. He had to find his partner because one thing was for certain - if that man was wearing Roy's gear, it meant Roy didn't have any protection. And the fire was quickly gaining ground despite Marco and Chet's best efforts.

As he rushed back in the door as fast as his injured foot allowed, Johnny gave a quick prayer to his ancestors that Roy was still in that same room that he'd last seen him in. He jumped slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Cap had followed him in.

"Lead the way, John."

He gave Captain Stanley a grateful nod and continued straight to the third apartment. The door was still standing open and the first thing he caught sight of through the haze of smoke was the light blue shirt. Dropping down beside Roy, the grayish tones of his partner's skin worried him. For the second time, his hand reached out to the neck to search for a pulse. This time he found one. Weak, but steady under his fingertips.

There was blood on Roy's face, but Johnny didn't have time to worry about that. At Johnny's nod, Cap hoisted Roy up to carry him out. They both noticed something had been wrapped around Roy's wrists, but that was something else that would have to be dealt with later.

"Stick right behind me and keep your hand on my shoulder. I'm not going to find one man only to lose another."

"Right, Cap."

As he was emerging from the building with his men, the captain saw another engine and squad pulling up along with a police car. He puzzled at that - that was too quick. But considering both of his paramedics were injured, he certainly wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Then it came to him that Mike must have called for backup after the first explosion. Bless his quiet engineer's heart.

Brice and Belliveau were already out of their squad and rushing over to take Roy from Captain Stanley. Cap then turned his attention to helping Johnny follow in the other paramedics' wake. Sitting Johnny down where Belliveau directed, Cap headed back to check on his other men. The other engine took over the fire suppression duties and the exhausted Chet and Marco made their way back toward the engine, freezing in near unison at the sight of the body in turnout gear.

At the sight of their reaction, Mike realized that they had no idea about anything that had been going on and called out to them.

"It's not one of us."

With Mike's assurance, they came on over, casting a glance over to where the other paramedic squad was nearby, their faces full of unasked questions. Vince exited his car and glanced down at the body on the ground for a minute before looking to Captain Stanley.

"What happened here? Who is he?"

"Best I can give you is a rough guess. Johnny says this guy was the victim that Roy was with. Considering we just found Roy unconscious in there and this guy was in Roy's gear? I'm guessing that he must have attacked Roy. But there are only two people that could tell you - and one's dead."

Johnny was still in hearing range, so he joined in.

"I think he might be our fire starter, Cap. There was a trip line upstairs that I caught my foot on. That's how I got injured. It was clear, heavy fishing line. And I wouldn't be surprised if that's the same stuff that got Brice his bruises."

Brice spoke up from Roy's side.

"It's probably the same stuff that was wrapped around DeSoto's wrists. We already cut it loose - do you want it, Deputy?"

"Definitely."

Vince had out his notebook and was taking down what Johnny could tell him about what had happened inside - including how the man had fallen down the stairs after the explosion had rocked the building. Thinking back on how he had thought it was Roy, he cast a glance back over to his partner to reassure himself. The sight was only partially reassuring. Roy's skin had a pinker cast now, but he still wasn't seeing any signs of movement.

Brice moved over to check over Johnny, calling over the information to Belliveau to relay to Rampart. By the time he had Johnny's ankle and foot immobilized, the ambulance was arriving. Roy still hadn't regained consciousness as they loaded him into the back. Captain Stanley called over to Brice just before he climbed in after Johnny.

"Take care of my guys. We'll see you at Rampart."


	7. Chapter 7

**Part VII**

Unaware of the activity around him, Roy was trapped in the nightmare of reliving what had happened in the apartment over and over again. He had just finished speaking to Johnny when the man had signaled that he was having trouble breathing. It was a bit awkward as the man's one hand still had a death-grip on Roy's turnout coat, but Roy pulled his breathing mask free so that he could let the man get a breath or two from the air bottle.

Roy never even got a look at whatever had been in the man's other hand, but whatever it was, it was slammed hard into Roy's head right around his right ear. Stunned, Roy wasn't able to offer more than token resistance as his gear was quickly and roughly stripped off of him. The man was talking excitedly the entire time but it was when he had mentioned Roy's family that the further danger registered. Roy tried to focus past the pain and nausea from what he knew had to be a concussion and fight back against the man. The pain from the second blow landing was the last thing he remembered, but the babble of the man's voice kept running through his mind.

_"I'll just borrow this stuff. Not like you're going to need it any more. I bet they don't even notice it isn't you underneath all this gear. I can stand out there - watch the fire with all the other men. And I'll be the only one that knows you're still in here. Then later, we'll go and see your kids and wife. Been by your place. It'll look good in flames. Be fitting for a fireman's whole family to follow him, won't it? Maybe that partner of yours too, Roy. You seem close. Keep the entire bunch of you together"_

Johnny could see Roy's body tensing in the back of the ambulance and worked his way up closer to Roy's head. Keeping out of Brice's way, he laid a hand on his friend's shoulder and kept speaking to him.

"It's going to be alright, pally. Hang in there, Roy."

Brice glanced over to Johnny.

"I don't know what's running through his mind, but his pulse is racing, Gage."

"I know, I know."

Johnny wasn't as comfortable with physical gestures as Roy was. Especially not gestures in front of other people. But Roy's needs were more important than his comfort so Johnny tried to tune Brice's presence out and focus solely on trying to reach his partner to calm him down.

Leaving the one hand on Roy's shoulder, he took his other hand and gently moved some of the hair off of Roy's forehead - the same way Roy had done to him many times in the past. Staying close to Roy's ear, he began to speak again, not knowing or particularly caring any more if Brice could hear him.

"I don't know what he did to you, Roy - and I don't know what he told you, but we got you out. Cap carried you out of the building. The fire didn't get any of our crew, pally. We're going to be at Rampart soon."

The babble of the voice in Roy's head was slowly being drowned out by a familiar voice. Roy couldn't make sense of what was being said to him, but the well-known tones and speech patterns were clung to like a life-line.

"Good, he seems to be responding to you - his pulse is starting to go down some. Keep it up, Gage."

Johnny didn't even pay attention to what he was talking about after that, he just kept talking until the ambulance was backed into the ER entrance and Roy was suddenly swept away from him as Dixie kindly, but firmly directed Johnny into a different treatment room under very vocal protest.

"Calm it down, tiger. You know one of the first things that Kel is going to want is x-rays of his skull and you can't be in there while that's being done anyway. Let's take a look at this foot of yours and get it out of the way so you can be with Roy. We both know he'll need you. So - tell me what happened while I get you ready for Joe to take a look."

Dr. Early came in just as Johnny had come to the part of the story where the man he'd thought was Roy fell down the stairs and broke his neck. When Johnny had relayed the story to Vince, he had still been coming down from the adrenaline rush and just blurted out the details. This time through, the reality of what had happened as well as what had almost happened hit him like a ton of bricks.

Seeing the signs of shock setting in, Dixie quickly went into motion to get a warmed blanket and wrap it around Johnny's now shivering form.

Dr. Early gave his leg a sympathetic pat. He was pretty sure if he'd gone through what Johnny had just through, he'd have had trouble even putting together a coherent sentence.

"Looks like just a mild sprain in your foot, Johnny. I'm going to just recommend a few days taking an anti-inflammatory and keeping it elevated until the bruising starts to fade some. After that, we should be able to get you back on the job with a wrap on it for some extra support until it clears up completely."

Pulling the blanket tighter around himself, Johnny's eyes went to the door.

"Can I see Roy now?"

"Why did I see that question coming? Just sit still for a minute. I'll go check with Kel. Dix? See if you can round up a wheelchair."

Heading into the treatment room next door, Dr. Early looked at the monitors on Roy. The pulse rate was pretty rapid. Shifting his glance from the monitor over to his colleague, he made a gesture toward the wall.

"I've got a paramedic next door who is really anxious to get in here with his partner, Kel."

Kel followed Joe's gesture and nodded.

"I think the feeling is mutual. Brice said that John's voice calmed down Roy's heartbeat appreciably. It needs to come down, but I don't want to use a sedative. He's taken at least two hard blows to the head."

"Well, let's get the alternative prescription in here then. I'll be right back."

Dr. Brackett didn't have to say a thing to Johnny as Dixie wheeled him into the room. As soon as Dixie had him close enough, he reached out to make contact with his partner and began talking about, of all things, Chet's cooking ability - or rather, the lack thereof. In just a couple of minutes, they could see the pulse rate starting to gradually lower to more acceptable levels.

The negatives arrived then and Dr. Brackett quickly gave them a look.

"We have a linear fracture in the right temporal bone, but no depressed fractures and I haven't seen any signs of bleeds or CSF fluids leaking."

Glancing back over to Roy as he laid the negatives back down, he gave a soft sigh.

"Not great news, but it certainly could be far worse. Police have the man that did this in custody?"

"He died on the scene, doc. Roy's going to be alright?"

"I'll be happier when he wakes up and we can get a better idea of how his memories are, but I have to consider him responding to your voice to be a positive sign. Let's get the two of you up to a room where we can keep him monitored. Johnny? Until Roy wakes up, I want to avoid giving him anything to slow his heart rate down artificially. For the moment, the only stimulus he's responding to is you. Can you stay with him for now?"

Johnny just stated it simply.

"Roy needs me. I'm not going anywhere."


	8. Chapter 8

**Part VIII**

Joanne came to the hospital, but to her dismay, her voice seemed to set Roy's pulse racing again. Dixie wrapped a reassuring arm around her as she guided her back to the waiting area, reminding her that they currently had no way of knowing what was going on inside Roy's mind. Still, Joanne couldn't help but be worried about Roy's reaction to the sound of her voice. They'd made such strides in their marriage over the past year that this felt like a rejection to her.

Unknown to them, the sound of Joanne's voice was triggering Roy's mind back to the man's words and the threat of setting his house on fire with his family inside. While Johnny had been threatened as well, Johnny was his partner. Roy always held the opinion in the back of his mind that as long as he and Johnny were working together, they could find a way past almost any situation. Threats to his family's safety were another matter.

The rest of the crew was arriving by then and they soon found out that all of the crew's voices had the calming effect on Roy, though not to the extent of Johnny's. Captain Stanley went to where the still distrait Joanne was sitting with Dixie and sat down on the other side of her.

"Joanne - Roy seems to be reacting just to our crew. He wasn't responding to Dixie or the doctors either, right, Dix?"

"That's true, Joanne. He wasn't showing reaction to anyone but Johnny at first."

"But - "

Hank reached out and took Joanne's free hand.

"I may be off base, but remember, Roy was knocked out in the middle of a burning house. He's not there any more, but he doesn't know that yet. When he hears us? We're supposed to be at that fire with him. When he hears you -?"

"You mean, he might be thinking I'm someone trapped in the fire?"

"I couldn't say for sure, but it would kind of make sense, wouldn't it? Especially since he's having the exact same reaction to everyone that isn't part of our crew? John and Roy are always trying to listen out for people needing help when they're searching a building."

Squeezing Hank's hand, Joanne nodded.

"Yes, you're probably right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't even be worried about things like that right now."

"It's only natural. Listen, let us take care of Roy for now. You go get some rest so you can take over when he wakes up."

Nodding, Joanne gave Dixie's hand a squeeze then gave Hank a light kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you. For everything."

"We're family. No thanks necessary. But maybe you could do us a favor and coax John into leaving with you for a little while? He had a pretty bad shock to his system himself."

Downstairs, Jason Collins was pacing. He'd gotten information on DeSoto's condition from the hospital offices by claiming to be his brother-in-law. He was just glad that an anxious, pacing person didn't really stand out much in a hospital waiting room.

How had he let his cousin talk him into letting things go this far? Sure, the fires they had started together had been great, but he should have told Stan to back off when he started wanting to have people involved. But no. He hadn't let Stan talk him into hurting people himself, but he had let Stan talk him into keeping quiet about Stan trying it. Now look at the mess he was in. Stan and his big ideas. Stan and his big mouth.

Oh, he knew Stan. They'd been the bad boy team of their family since grade school. And he knew why Stan had fixed his sights on this DeSoto character. Since Stan had made up his mind about people being in the fires he sat, DeSoto had been responsible for 'robbing' him of reaching his goal twice. Jason knew one other thing as well. Stan would have talked the guy's ear off telling him about all his plans before leaving him. Stan had wanted DeSoto to know about the plans he had for the family. It shouldn't have mattered. DeSoto was never supposed to make it out of the fire. But now Stan was dead, DeSoto was alive and the one thing he didn't know for sure was if Stan mentioned his name to DeSoto in all of that bragging he was bound to have done.

Jason didn't really mind the thought of hurting someone that much, but the thought of killing someone was another matter all together. He had planned to try and talk Stan out of going to the family's house - or at least into burning it when the family wasn't home. But now he wasn't thinking of this as murder. Jason was thinking of self-preservation and he wasn't seeing any way around it. If Stan mentioned his name to DeSoto, then he could very well find himself in prison for years on arson charges. Or maybe even attempted murder if they blamed him for Stan's other failed attempts.

He couldn't go to prison. He just couldn't. So it was really it came down to a choice between himself and DeSoto - which to Jason meant no choice at all.

DeSoto had to go.


	9. Chapter 9

**Part IX**

Talking Johnny into accompanying Joanne home wasn't easy, but it wasn't as hard as Hank had expected it to be. Johnny had seen how upset Roy's reaction to her voice made her and the rest of the crew promised that one of them would stick by Roy to keep him calm until he woke. Chet insisted that he should be the one to take the first watch.

"You guys might need to find a book or something to keep talking, but I can go all night without running out of material."

Marco just gave his friend a light slap on the back.

"Just don't tell him too many bad jokes. We want to encourage him to awake up, not to stay out."

"Love you too, Marco – scat. You've got the next shift. Hey – you want to encourage him to wake up, bring back some of your mom's cooking."

"You know? That might not be a bad idea."

Johnny went to the bed and squeezed Roy's hand briefly.

"I won't be gone long, Pally. Just going to see Joanne home. Chester B's going to be keeping you company for now."

As the others headed out, Chet settled down by Roy.

"Hey – just you and me now, DeSoto. Johnny ever tell you about the double date he and I went on with those twins? He probably did, but I'll bet you that he got the story all wrong. How it really went was like this – "

If there was one thing that Johnny and Chet had in common, it was the ability to ramble for long periods of time on whatever subject came to their mind. As with Johnny, the familiarity of the speech had a soothing effect on Roy. But after about two hours of it, Roy's mind was starting to struggle to a more conscious state. There was a sense of urgency deep down. Something he needed to warn them about. That man's use of the word 'we'.

A soft moan caught the curly headed fireman's attention. Chet wasn't a trained paramedic, but he'd been with Johnny and Roy enough to pick up a few things. Plus, this was hardly his first time at a friend's bedside. Roy's movements were slight, but Chet knew that that sort of thing was something that might signal that Roy was trying to wake up. As he had already been doing, Chet filled Roy in on what he was about to do.

"Roy – I've emptied out the water pitcher. I'll be right back after I get it filled. I know one thing you'll want is a good drink when you finally open those eyes. That's the first thing I always want at least. Well, that and a chili cheese dog. Man, I shouldn't have said that. Now I'm hungry."

Jason had been by DeSoto's room several times. What was with these people? Didn't they have homes? Surely they wouldn't be with him the entire night? When the other firefighters had left, he'd been encouraged. Until he saw there was still one guy in there with him.

Watching, Jason saw the last remaining man head out with a pitcher, returning almost immediately with it and going to DeSoto's bedside. Didn't look that the curly headed guy was leaving any time soon. Then he noticed the movement of the body on the bed and heard what sounded like the fireman having a conversation with DeSoto. Jason panicked then. DeSoto must have woken up finally. DeSoto could be telling that guy in there about him right now. He couldn't wait any longer.

Hearing someone entering behind him, Chet's first thought was that the nurse had come in to check on Roy, so that was who he expected to see when he glanced behind him. A wild-eyed man with a knife? That was definitely not what he expected to see. The cup of water he'd just poured dropped from his hand, splashing Roy's arm on its way to the floor.

Whatever else anyone might say about Chet, he didn't have any hesitation about putting himself between a friend and danger. Not that he wouldn't have been very grateful for something to defend himself with, of course. But since there was nothing readily available, Chet just held his hands up and tried to talk the man down, being very careful to keep himself solidly between the knife wielder and Roy.

"Hey – easy there, dude. Don't do anything we might both regret here, okay?"

"You don't understand. I didn't want it to be this way, but it has to be this way."

The sensation of being wet started a domino effect. Water didn't have any place at all in the circle of Roy's thoughts, so the feeling of his arm suddenly being wet nudged his consciousness. Then the voices nearby had an urgent, desperate tone that drug him further along and Roy slowly opened his eyes, wincing at the light above him as he began to relate the sights and smells to Rampart. The sounds were not something he related to Rampart though.

As Roy turned his head, he easily recognized the back turned toward him as Chet's, but it was the man in front of Chet with the knife in his hands that held Roy's attention. Roy grabbed for where he knew the call button should be and was relieved when he found it with a minimal amount of groping. Unfortunately the man saw the movement behind Chet.

"Stop that! You hit that button and I swear I'll cut him."

Chet just hoped and prayed that Roy really was awake behind him. If he wasn't, Chet didn't think much of their odds.

"Hit it, Roy - he's going to try to kill me – kill both of us - regardless."

Jason proved the truth of Chet's words by thrusting the blade at him even as Roy pressed the button.


	10. Chapter 10

**Part X**

The longer he thought about it, the more Marco thought that Chet's remark about the smell of good food possibly helping to coax Roy awake had merit. Besides, Chet never turned down Mama Lopez's cooking either. Since Chet had promised to stay by Roy, that would mean he hadn't eaten, so Marco got enough food together for the three of them to eat together – the doctor might not allow Roy to eat it, but it would be there just in case he could.

Marco had just gotten off of the elevator when he heard a woman scream and saw a nurse running away from Roy's room. Bag of food still in hand, Marco immediately ran past her and quickly took in the scene in front of him. Chet was pressing against his stomach with his left hand, blood seeping through his fingers. Chet's back was braced against Roy's bed. Roy was obviously awake because he was holding onto Chet to help support him, but it was the man who had now turned to face Marco that quickly caught and held his full attention. The bloody knife in his hand told Marco what had caused Chet's injury and he looked like he fully intended to use it again. Marco didn't know who this guy was, but right now, who he was didn't matter. What mattered was stopping him from hurting anyone else.

Noises were already starting to come toward the room and the man's eyes were darting in all directions. Jason couldn't decide if he needed to keep his eyes on Chet, Marco or the door. Marco saw Chet start to reach for something on the bedside table and started talking to the man between them so that, hopefully, he wouldn't notice.

"The nurse has already called security. You know that. Just lay the knife down before you make things worse."

"No! I'm not going to prison. I've got to get past them."

The man seemed to be wracking his brain desperately. Then the way his face lit up suddenly worried Marco. To him, that expression said that the man was about to try something, but what?

Marco had read Jason's expression correctly - there were too many people involved now for Jason to just get rid of all of the witnesses as he had originally intended, so he had to alter his plans. He'd have to make a run for it, but he'd need a hostage to force them to let him leave.

Jason quickly ran over his limited options. DeSoto was no good to use as a hostage - the man was hooked to way too many machines and probably couldn't even walk on his own. The guy who had just come in looked like he'd be too hard for Jason to handle on his own. That left the guy he'd already stabbed. Jason figured that Chet was still mobile enough not to slow him down too much, but injured enough to make him easier to force to cooperate. And the fact that the curly haired guy was already bleeding should help convince the cops that he was serious.

Half-turning toward the bed, Jason motioned to Chet with his free hand.

"You. You come with me and I'll leave the other two alone."

Chet didn't believe that the man was sincere about leaving the others unharmed for a second, but he didn't betray that in his voice.

"Yeah. Sure. Just don't hurt the other guys."

A second later, Chet slung his right hand forward, drenching Jason with the icy water from the nearly full metal pitcher, then threw the pitcher at him as well for good measure. As soon as he saw what Chet was doing, Marco followed up by slamming the bag of food he was still carrying into the man's back.

It was then that when Drs. Brackett and Morton arrived on the scene with two security men. Marco had scrambled over to Chet and Roy while Jason was still confused from their strikes so that he could try and protect his injured teammates. Seeing his last chance about to get away from him, Jason made a grab for Chet, but he slipped on one of the ice cubes on the floor and the knife clattered to the tile. Jason was overpowered by the security men before he could grab the knife again and cause any more harm.

As soon as the security men had hold of the now hysterical man, Dr. Brackett hurried over to Chet as Dr. Morton yelled down the hall for the nurse to have a gurney brought immediately. Roy was speaking softly and encouraging to Chet. Taking a glance around the room, the whole thing suddenly struck Chet as funny even though laughing obviously hurt.

"And to think my teacher told me that knowing how to food fight would never come in handy as an adult."

Shaking his head at his friend, Marco gave Dr. Brackett a hand in getting Chet onto the other bed in the room so that his condition could be evaluated.

Now that both the laughter and adrenaline were starting to die down, Chet was beginning to really feel the pain. He didn't say anything else though until the security men had drug their attacker out of the room.

"Who **was** that guy?"

Roy rolled a bit so that his head was over the side of the bed. He'd done far too much movement for the concussion that was still making his skull pound. Morton recognized the symptoms and got a basin over just in time before more mess hit the floor. When Roy caught his breath again, his answer was short and puzzled.

"I have no idea."

The orderlies coming into the room found quite a mess. Chet had a point. It did look like a food fight had taken place. Ice cubes, water, enchiladas, chili and blood were all over the floor.

"Try not to track through things more than you have to before the police come, fellows, but we need to get this man down to surgery stat."

As Chet was rushed from the room, everything went suddenly quiet. Swallowing hard, Marco found his hand was trembling as he reached for the phone and dialed.

"Captain Stanley? This is Marco. Chet's -"

The bloody knife caught Marco's eye again and it hit him that all of the blood he was seeing was Chet's. He lost his voice for a moment until he closed his eyes.

"Some crazy guy stabbed Chet. He's going into surgery. Madre de Dios!"

On the other end of the line, Hank was holding onto the receiver so tightly that his knuckles went white. There were so many questions running through his mind, but he knew that right now, Marco was in no condition to answer them. Right now, his men needed him.

_"I'm on my way, Marco. Sit down and breathe. I'll call Mike and John."_


	11. Chapter 11

**Part XI**

The phone rang at the DeSoto home. Kim darted and had the phone answered before the second ring.

"Hello? Oh, hi! Yessir – he's still here. Hold on a minute. **Uncle Johnny! Phone!**"

Coming out from the kitchen where he'd been sitting and talking to Joanne as she was preparing coffee, Johnny wagged a finger at Kim.

"Kimmy, sweetheart? Remember what I said about moving the phone before yelling?"

"Oops."

She put the phone back to her ear for a minute.

"I'm sorry, Captain Stanley. I didn't mean to yell in your ear. Here's Uncle Johnny."

A frown formed as Johnny took the handset from Kim.

"Cap? Is everything alright?'

"_No, I'm afraid it isn't, John. I don't have details because Marco was too upset but someone attacked Chet and he's going into surgery. Do you have a way to the hospital or should I swing by and get you?"_

"Uhm – hang on a minute."

Moving the receiver away from his mouth, Johnny called out. He felt numb as if nothing was quite getting all the way through.

"Joanne? I really need to talk to you right now."

"Sure, Joh – Johnny? What's wrong? You're pale as a sheet."

His eyes flickered at Kim briefly. He wasn't going to say what had happened out loud in front of her.

"Something's happened at the hospital. You want to head back there with me? If not, Cap's going to get me."

The glance toward Kim spiked Joanne's concern. No way was she going to stay home and pace.

"I'll call my neighbor – she already said she'd watch the kids if I had to head back suddenly. I'm going."

Lifting the phone back up, Johnny spoke to Captain Stanley again.

"I'll be coming with Joanne."

_"Good. Mike and I will meet you there_."

Mike and Cap were the first to reach the hospital. The room they'd last seen Roy in was blocked off to keep anyone from entering, but they could still see inside. The sight of the spilled food and blood all over the floor didn't make them any less anxious, but then they heard Dixie's voice.

"Over here, fellows. It was easiest just to move Roy to another room."

"What happened? How badly was Chet hurt?"

Another familiar voice caught their attention then. Vince was in Roy's room as well.

"We're still sorting everything out, Hank. Our stabber is related to the dead suspected arsonist. His statement hasn't been extremely coherent, but one thing we have determined is that he thought Roy here knew about him and wanted to kill him before he could tell anyone."

He'd been so intent on listening to Vince that Hank didn't register that Johnny and Joanne had come up behind him until he heard Joanne's gasp. He wasn't the only one that heard her.

"Jo?"

Roy's voice was rough, but recognizable and everyone parted to let her and Johnny get over to Roy. As soon as she was close enough, Roy ignored his aching head and grabbed hold of Joanne tightly.

"Thank God you're alright."

All of Joanne's worries evaporated with that.

"Me? You're the one that's been hurt, darling."

Vince cleared his throat.

"Roy's been able to give his statement and – Roy? Do you want me to tell her or do you want to tell her yourself?"

Dixie stepped in.

"Whether he's willing to admit it or not, Roy's hurting and exhausted. He needs to rest. Vince, the room next door is free. Why don't you and others head into there and fill everyone in on what's been going on? I'll stay with Roy until you're finished."

"Good idea. Everyone?"

Roy reluctantly let go of his wife, but she gave him a light kiss. She could tell from the look in his eyes how much pain he was in and enough time had passed now that he was getting some livid bruising.

"I won't be far. I'm fine. Just worry about yourself for once, Roy DeSoto."

That got a small smile.

"I'll try."

Vince waited for Joanne to join them and close the door before he started.

"Alright, as most or all of you know, there's been a problem with a series of arson fires. One of the ones involved developed increasing violent tendencies and was trying to, quite frankly, kill someone in a fire. It just so happened that Roy was the one that carried his first victim out and that started the man fixating on Roy. He blamed Roy for interfering. To the point that he even went to his home to watch him there."

Johnny automatically stepped a little closer to Joanne as Vince looked over to her.

"Mrs. DeSoto, there's no easy way to say this. The man plans were to murder Roy at a fire scene and then go to your home and set it on fire while you and the children were inside. He told Roy his intentions after he'd incapacitated him before knocking him out and leaving him in the building."

"Oh my God. No wonder he panicked when he heard my voice. But - what happened here?"

"The other half of the team, the one I was talking about when you and John came in? He thought his cousin was likely to have told Roy his name along with everything else he told him. So he came here to kill Roy, but Kelly prevented him from getting to Roy. Unfortunately, he was stabbed in the process. Lopez came in and between their efforts, he was stalled until security was able to contain him."

The door opened and Dr. Early looked in.

"Dixie pointed me in this direction. I thought you'd like to know that Chet is out of surgery. He lost a good amount of blood and we had to repair a nick to his liver, but his prognosis is very good."

The entire room breathed a sigh of relief.


	12. Chapter 12

**Part XII  
><strong>  
>Chet had a small setback with infection that kept him in ICU a little longer than expected, but a change in his antibiotic soon had him back on track by the time Roy was released to go home. Marco mentioned to the others that Chet was acting a bit strange, but they all just attributed it to him feeling pretty run down from the combined effects of blood loss and infection.<p>

For a little while, A Shift was half regulars and half substitutes. Johnny was cleared back to duty first, followed by Roy and then finally Chet. On the day that the shift was whole again, Mrs. Stanley sent along a cake for the crew to share.

Johnny had quite frankly assumed that they'd never hear the end of Chet bragging, so he was a bit shocked when Chet avoided the subject any time that it came up. In fact, Chet hardly said anything at all. He was so uncomfortable and – well, non-Chet - that Mike finally pulled him to the side.

"Being quiet is my shtick, Chet. What's wrong?"

"Mike, we been in a tight spot or two, right? I don't think I've ever been more scared in my life. Anytime anyone uses any word like brave around me? I know how big a lie that is. If you had any idea how badly I wanted to run, you'd know how big a coward I really am."

"But you didn't run, Chet."

"But not because I didn't want to. I mean, I just couldn't leave Roy alone with that maniac. Somebody that was actually brave? They probably could've figured a way around that mess."

"You have a lopsided way of looking at things, Chet. Being scared is not the same thing as being a coward and being brave doesn't have anything to do with having all the answers."

Roy's voice from behind made them both turn their heads. He was there, leaning against the wall with the rest of their crew close by.

"Roy's right, you know. I mean, you had a situation thrown at you that totally unexpected and you did the best you could with what you had."

"Sure, Gage."

It was easy enough for all of them to tell that Chet wasn't buying it. The station was abnormally quiet and for once, Hank was at a loss as to what to do about it. It was bad enough Collins had injured his lineman's body, but it was certain from the way Chet was acting that Collins had injured the lineman's confidence as well. He didn't want it to continue any longer - Hank was pretty sure that Chet had already been brooding on his 'flaw' during his convalescence for way too long.

Reaching for his phone, he swallowed both his apprehension and his pride, calling Chief McConakee and asking for any advice the Chief might have for this situation. However, instead of giving any advice, the Chief merely said he'd be by before the end of the shift. As he hung the phone back up, Hank hoped that whatever the Chief had in mind wouldn't just drive Chet further into his shell.

True to his word, Chief McConakee showed about an hour before the end of the shift, carrying a small box. After he got the men together, he looked straight at Chet - who looked like he'd rather be almost anywhere else.

"Kelly, there's two things I wanted to come down here to say to you. I hope I'm not putting you in too uncomfortable of a spot, but what I want to cover is something I want them to hear as well. First, your actions in the hospital are pretty much what I consider to be a example of what our brotherhood should be like. Us taking care of our own even in the most adverse conditions. Second, I know that situations like that can cause contrary feelings. You, DeSoto and myself are all prior military. There are similarities between the men in the Forces and the men of the Fire Department, especially in the way that deep camaraderie is formed. So it felt right to give this to you, Kelly. Quote from a soldier that I think applies to all of us."

Chief McConakee had all of their attention - and their curiosity - as he passed the small box to Chet, who thanked him and then lifted off the lid. Turning the box to look over the contents, he seemed to study it for a long minute, then cleared his throat and looked back to the Chief.

"Thank you, sir. That really means a lot to me."

"Good. Now - how about you read that out loud before your crewmates die of curiosity?"

"Yessir."

Chet cleared his throat again and read out the words on the small plaque.

_"Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death." Omar Bradley._

Roy just smiled and nodded.

"He said it better than I did."

"Your entire shift held together in a fashion that does us all proud through all of your recent problems. The scrutiny from the investigators alone would have broken up many shifts, not to mention the other pressures the arsonists caused. Hank? Good to have your whole crew back on the line and healthy again. Gentlemen? I believe I hear your relief coming in. Enjoy your time off."

Once the Chief had left, Chet headed to his locker and found a spot to attach the plaque. He gave it another long look before shutting his locker and heading out.

The next rotation began with a water bomb in every single A shift locker, but the only one who caught it full in the face was Johnny.

Roy handed Johnny a towel, but got a dirty look from his partner because of his smile. Roy couldn't help the grin on his face though. To him, the water and the laughter wiped out what had been left of the shadows from the arsons.

It felt good to finally be able to relegate those days to past memories.


End file.
